Backgrounder
Boeing Defense, Space & Security
P.O. Box 516
St. Louis, MO 63166
www.boeing.com
Global Positioning System (GPS)
IIF
Description and Purpose:
GPS is a space-based, worldwide navigation system providing users with highly
accurate, three-dimensional position, velocity and timing information 24 hours a day in
all weather conditions. Boeing has been the prime contractor for four GPS satellite
programs since 1974 and was selected by the U.S. Air Force to build 12 nextgeneration GPS Block IIF satellites.
Customer: U.S. Air Force
General Characteristics:
Created by the U.S. Department of Defense to enhance U.S. military warfighting
capability, GPS is available for use, free of charge, to anyone with a GPS receiver. U.S.
and allied military forces use GPS devices in virtually every system to improve their
capabilities and effectiveness while reducing risk to their forces and non-combatants.
From finance to farming to tracking packages, use by the civilian community continues
to grow rapidly and new commercial applications are continuously being developed.
This increased civil and commercial use of GPS, coupled with lessons learned from years
of military operations and specific experiences during Operation Desert Storm, Kosovo,
Desert Shield and Iraqi Freedom, drove a desire to modernize the system and augment its
capabilities while sustaining the current GPS mission. In response to new civil demands
and the emerging doctrines of navigation warfare, the Air Force was charged with directing
and procuring improvements to the GPS constellation. Boeing was selected to support the
Air Force in architecting the future of GPS, guiding the introduction of new capabilities and
technologies into the Block IIF to create a modernized satellite.
The GPS IIF system brings next-generation performance to the constellation. The GPS
IIF vehicle is critical to U.S. national security and sustaining GPS constellation
availability for global civil, commercial, and defense applications. Besides sustaining the
GPS constellation, IIF features more capability and improved mission performance.
Each GPS IIF satellite delivers:
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Greater navigational accuracy through improvements in atomic clock technology
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A new civilian L5 signal to aid commercial aviation and search and rescue operations
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Improved military signal and variable power for better resistance to jamming in
hostile environments
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A 12-year design life providing long-term service and reduced operating costs
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An on-orbit, reprogrammable processor that can receive software uploads for
improved system operation.
Nine GPS IIFs have been launched to date:
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GPS IIF-1 - Launched May 27, 2010, and entered service August 26, 2010
GPS IIF-2 - Launched July 16, 2011, and entered service on August 22, 2011
GPS IIF-3 - Launched October 4, 2012, and entered service on October 26, 2012
GPS IIF-4 - Launched May 15, 2013, and entered service June 21, 2013
GPS IIF-5 - Launched February 20, 2014, and entered service May 30, 2014
GPS IIF-6 – Launched May 16, 2014, and entered service June 10, 2014
GPS IIF-7 – Launched July 31, 2014, and entered service Sept. 17, 2014
GPS IIF-8 – Launched Oct. 29, 2014, entered service Dec.12, 2014
GPS IIF-9 – Launched March 25, 2015, expected to enter service late April
Boeing’s pulse-line manufacturing approach delivered the IIF fleet of 12. Similar to an
airplane assembly line, the IIF pulse line efficiently moved a satellite from one work area
to the next in a steady rhythm, like a pulse.
Boeing also assisted the Air Force in seamlessly deploying two new major ground
control segment elements: Launch and Early Orbit, Anomaly Resolution, and Disposal
Operations (LADO), and the Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP) Operational Control
System (OCS). These systems have enhanced the performance of the current on-orbit
fleet while preparing to also operate the new GPS IIF satellites.
Background:
The IIF’s are the product of Boeing’s long legacy on GPS, dating back to the first GPS
program in 1974. Of the 69 GPS satellites launched since the first one in 1978, Boeing
has built 47 of those that joined the constellation, accruing more than 525 years of onorbit service. Boeing has worked closely with the Air Force for more than 40 years to
help ensure excellent service to military and civilian users worldwide.
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Contact:
Paula Shawa
Network & Space Systems
Office: 310-364-7362
Mobile: 714 290-3975
paula.r.shawa@boeing.com
March 2015